Apr. 10, 2014

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Here on the blog we'll have a quick look at the Santa Cruz Warriors' games to get you ready for their upcoming contests. The majority of their games can be seen on youtube.com/nbadleague. You can follow along on my Twitter account for some insights during some of the games this season.

Santa Cruz's regular season record: 29-21, second in the West Division

Los Angeles' last game: lost to Iowa 148-128 on Saturday

Santa Cruz's last game: defeated Reno 109-95 on Saturday

Outlook: This was as I thought this would go, with Los Angeles choosing to play Santa Cruz and not worry about timezone lag.

The series went 4-4 overall, but Los Angeles won the last two, barreling by Santa Cruz in the second half each time.

It will be up to Santa Cruz to maintain a second-half edge. The last time the two teams played, Santa Cruz was up seven at half, but the D-Fenders got the 121-113 victory on March 29.

One of the more notable games in the series was the Dec. 17 affair, where Santa Cruz had a 26-point lead and let it evaporate in the fourth quarter. The teams went into overtime and Santa Cruz made one three-pointer that ended up being the difference, 115-114.

That can't happen if Santa Cruz wants to get back to the final dance.

One thing to look for will be how the team plays in the second half of games. If it can weather whatever storm Los Angeles brings, the Warriors should be in good shape.

Just one more note about the postseason, the D-League does the reverse hosting system, so Game 1 is tonight in Santa Cruz, even though the Warriors are the lower seed. The teams will go to Los Angeles and stay there for Game 2 and possibly Game 3.

There was a point where the two teams played three consecutive games against each other. That happened on Dec. 14, 15 and 17, with Santa Cruz going 2-1. Interestingly enough, in that three-game stretch, the first two games were at Los Angeles, and the third was at Santa Cruz. It’s flipped for this series.